Jan 25, 2020 | Rich McNeil | 133 views
Game #3 S.C Playoffs - Express drop a close one to Tillsonburg
With Tillsonburg knocking off Ayr last night to advance in the OMHA Playdowns, we were going to get a sneak peak at our next opponents. The boys were coming off a 2-2 tie with Norwich, a game they clearly dominated, so it was going to be interesting to see if they could bounce back. In net for the Express tonight was Ben Baker.
Things looked good early as Kian Brown gained the Tillsonburg zone, getting it in behind the net, a great effort by Alex Stratton to bring the puck out and bury the puck behind the Tornadoes netminder, gave the Express the early lead at 8:44 of the first period. Tillsonburg responded with a attempt of their own, but Baker closed the door. But Baker would fall victim of a bad giveaway in our zone midway through the first frame, and before Baker could get set, the puck was already behind him and with that the contest was knotted up at 1-1. Tillsonburg was hungry for the lead, but a great glove save by Ben, kept the game tied. We were outshot 8-5 in the first frame.
Period two did not start well for our boys as again a breakdown in our zone gave the Tornadoes an opportunity to score, and only 28 seconds into the second, we were behind 2-1. A great shift after the goal, resulted in the Express tying the game as Ryan Gregg found Eli North, who made a fantastic pass onto the stick of Stratton, who made no mistake and tallied his second goal of the game. The Tonadoes would take the lead as our defence was left to cover two Tillsonburg forwards in front of our net, and Ben had no chance as he roofed the puck passed Baker, who made a heck of an effort to get across his crease to stop the shot. The period would end 3-2.
Ingersoll would take control of the game in the third, but great shots by our team, found the net, but we never seemed to have any of our players in the right spots to bury the rebounds. With 1:12 left in the third, Baker was pulled for the extra attacker, and even though the boys made a hard push, several great looks either went high or wide, and as the buzzer sounded, the Express boys found themselves fighting a little adversity for the first time this season. We should be seeing some modifications to our schedule as we prepare for what is looking to be a heck of a battle between ourselves and Tillsonburg.